Slayer 66 2/3: The Jeff & Dave Years. A Metal Band Biography. (50 page)

Slayer began 2013 with an unprecedented breakdown. And the year saw far worse.

For Valentine’s Day, Slayer gave Lombardo the axe.

After treading water through 2012, Slayer were scheduled to dive into 2013 with a series of Australian dates. All signs said the band were getting ready to serve up their eleventh studio album, with or without Hanneman.

Then, suddenly, the lineup lost a wheel for the third and likely final time. Slayer’s first shocking change for 2013 was fallout from business arrangements. Lombardo had been unhappy with his Slayer paydays for years. He had hired a lawyer to renegotiate his terms of employment. Now the drummer made some dramatic allegations that ruptured the band.

TOM’S VERSION

Slayer rehearsed for the Australian tour, with Holt still in the lineup and Hanneman still on the bench. The music was there, but the room lacked harmony. Something seemed off. The drummer made some declarations that struck his bandmates as odd.

“When we were rehearsing, [Lombardo] seemed to do a 180 and said some things that kind of upset me and Kerry,” Araya told Kory Grow, for the Minneapolis
City Pages
. “Kerry just looked at him and said, 'If you feel that way, then why are we even rehearsing for this tour?' So we wrote him a letter and said, 'Listen, we need to know if you're going to do the shows in Australia. If you're not, we need to do something about that.' We didn't get a reply. We were put in a position where we had to do something.”
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DAVE’S VERSION

The news broke Thursday, February 21: Lombardo announced on his Facebook page, “I was notified that I would not be drumming for the tour in Australia. I’m saddened, and to be honest I am shocked by the situation.”

Lombardo laid out the scenario as he saw it. He described a convoluted tale of sweat, hard work, and no receipts: “Last year, I discovered 90% of Slayer’s tour income was being deducted as expenses including the professional fees paid to management, costing the band millions of dollars and leaving 10% or less to split amongst the four of us.”
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While it’s possible Lombardo is correct — and this is 100% speculation with no basis in any kind of insider knowledge of the band’s business — it’s also possible he misinterpreted something
.
If the band draws most of its income from the road, then Lombardo’s scenario seems like the kind of discrepancy they would have noticed. According to the drummer, once the math didn’t add up, he kept digging.

Lombardo said he spent the 2012 holidays wondering where his paychecks from the year were. He claimed he hadn’t been paid for the 2012 tours — beyond a “small advance.”
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Lombardo divorce records signed by Lombardo’s attorney (but not Lombardo) reveal that Slayer had owed Lombardo $194,027, and he had been paid $112,027 of it, as of July 2013
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. (The exact amount varies in a different document filed in May, but the figures are close
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.) 

According to Lombardo, he and Araya then hired auditors to investigate the figures in his possession. Slayer’s management, Lombardo said, then refused to provide further numbers and documents. 

The drummer said his request was countered with a long new contract that 1) did not explain his questions about band income and fees, 2) did not provide access to the financial records that would help him account for previous financial activity, and 3) would forbid him from making statements about the band. According to Lombardo, he would not be paid until he signed the contract.

Lombardo, his story continued, next met with King and Araya to rehearse. At the meeting, Lombardo proposed a new business model for the Slayer Inc.

“Kerry made it clear he wasn’t interested in making changes,” recounted Lombardo, “and said if I wanted to argue the point, he would find another drummer.”
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Lombardo argued point.

King hadn’t made an idle threat.

According to Lombardo’s account, three days after their last meeting, the drummer showed up for a scheduled rehearsal at 1 p.m. Once again, as in 1992, King wasn’t there. No practice took place that afternoon. And this time, claimed Lombardo, he didn’t have the chance to quit: 

At 6:24 p.m., Lombardo received an email from Slayer’s lawyers, informing the drummer he was being replaced for the Australian tour. 

“I remain hopeful that we can resolve our issues,” concluded Lombardo in his Facebook post. “But once again, I sincerely apologize to all of our fans in Australia who spent their money expecting to see the 3 of us original Slayer members. 
I look forward to seeing you in the future. Sincerely, Dave Lombardo.”

The shit had hit the kit.

SLAYER’S VERSION

Slayer, predictably, did not agree with Lombardo’s account. The band issued a short, lawyer-ly refutation. It doubled as an announcement that Lombardo would be replaced by the man who had temporarily replaced Bostaph in 1996:

“Slayer confirms that Jon Dette will drum for the band on its Australian tour that starts this Saturday, February 23 in Brisbane. As regards Dave Lombardo’s Facebook post, Slayer does not agree with Mr. Lombardo’s substance or the timeline of the events, except to acknowledge that Mr. Lombardo came to the band less than a week before their scheduled departure for Australia to present an entirely new set of terms for his engagement that were contrary to those that had been previously agreed upon.

“The band was unable to reach an agreement on these new demands in the short amount of time available prior to leaving for Australia,” the denial continued. “There is more to the account than what Mr. Lombardo has offered, but out of respect to him, Slayer will not be commenting further. Slayer is grateful to its Australian fans for their understanding of this unfortunate last-minute change, and very much looks forward to seeing them at these shows.”

For longtime Slayer fans, it was déja vu all over again.

TERESA’S VERSION

Slayer’s controversial February 2013 split with Lombardo may have had the greatest impact on Dave Lombardo’s ex-wife. Later, she offered a version of the events that matched Slayer’s account. In the Lombardo divorce records, Teresa claimed the breakup was a calculated renegotiation plan that went wrong.

“Petitioner [Dave Lombardo] made good money with Slayer, and I feel he sabotaged his relationship with them because he did not get his way,” Teresa claimed in the divorce records. “Why should I have to suffer for his behavior? In fact, a couple weeks prior to Petitioner losing his job with Slayer, he informed me face to face that he and his contract attorney had a plan, and that they were going to set it up to be in place one week before the Australian tour. The plan was to give Slayer an ultimatum that they either hand over the [revenue] documents with the contract terms he wanted or he was not going to go on tour. Petitioner told me he had planned it so that way they would have no choice because they would not be able to find another drummer. The next day Petitioner told me he was being replaced for the tour.”
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TOM’S VERSION, PART II

Dave Lombardo was no longer on Slayer’s drum throne. According to Araya, Lombardo’s breach of confidentiality was not only factually incorrect; it constituted a breach of his terms of employment.

“He wasn't happy, so he decided to have his Facebook rant and told the world about a lot of issues going on within the band that are legally binding and private,” the singer told Brian Aberback of
Steppin' Out
magazine. “I thought that was wrong, and it was upsetting. A lot of the claims he made were untrue. Part of the agreement is you don't do that.”
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To the rest of the band, the Facebook post was just not just a betrayal, but an insult.

 “After what happened with the Australia tour, we made the decision to move forward and make him aware that we no longer needed his services,” Tom told Grow. “He was really upset about that…. He said some things that he shouldn't have. It really upset us. And it upset me. I was fuming. I couldn't believe that he would throw that out in the court of public opinion.”
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Araya and King made a conference call to Hanneman. They discussed the Dave situation. The trio made a decision
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. Lombardo had to go. And for consistency’s sake, they would replace him with the men who replaced him last time. One at a time.

KERRY’S VERSION

King’s version of the story agrees on the timeline. The alpha male would not be dominated.

“When Dave was in this last time, I figured I’d be on the stage with him until one of us fell off the stage, dead,” King recalled on the
Steve Austin Show
. “Things change. He got some bad advice and listened to some bad advice, gave us an ultimatum ten days before we went to Australia. And I said, ‘I can’t have this over my head.’ And I feel bad for Dave to this day, I really feel bad for him because he shot himself in the foot. Maybe he thought he had the upper hand, but you ain’t gonna get me…. Before I got home, I knew exactly what I was going to do for Australia.”In Australia, King described how the band was able to move forward without Lombardo so quickly:

“
I planned on him being here, up until the Monday before I left [for Australia],” King told Sound Wave TV’s Christina Rowatt. “And then I saw trouble in paradise, and since I’m the mastermind on making decisions like this, I was, like, ‘Alright, I’ve got a backup plan. Just in case.’   ’Cuz I would have hated to have just Australia blown out. Can you imagine how shitty that would have been? I love Australia, so I did what I thought was best, and we pulled it off.”
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King also called into question Lombardo’s claim that the drummer and singer had been allied in the dispute. Even though he had plan B in place, King didn’t believe Lombardo would split with the band. But the singer did.

“Tom‘s been on the fence about Dave for awhile,” King told Rowatt. “And I was pretty much the one that said, ‘Nah, I’m not comfortable moving on.’ And then it got thrust in our face, and I took action immediately, and I got a very lucky… culmination of things that happened.”

King delivered checkmate.

Once he was released, Lombardo personally tried reaching out to King and Araya. The messages went unreturned. Araya and King were busy lining up new drummers.

DRUMMER UP: DETTE RETURNS

Dette was in Australia anyway, drumming with Anthrax for the festival season. The replacement drummer had less than a week to practice, but he knew the catalog. Over three days of practice, his old muscle memory kicked in. The songs came back to him.

“It was like riding a bike; it was like I’d never forgotten [how to play it],” Dette told Raquel Figlo of Big Drum Bonanza. “I think that our experience onstage… was such an amazing experience. Just because we all knew each other, and it was almost like a reunion, so to speak. It was a reunion under such unfortunate circumstances, but under those circumstances, an amazing result happened. So it was just an honor and privilege to be part of their history again.”

Dette also noted that, despite the high-pressure circumstances, the atmosphere wasn’t too tense.

“They’ve matured as people,” Dette told Figlo. “I think that things are much more — despite what’s happened with Slayer in recent years — they’ve become much more relaxed as people and maybe not so uptight with things.”
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Slayer’s set at Brisbane, their first with Dette, was heavy on Hanneman material. The guitarist had contributed to every single song in the best-of setlist:

1. “Disciple” (music by Hanneman, words by King)

2. “War Ensemble” (music by Hanneman, words by Araya and Hanneman)

3. “Die by the Sword” (lyrics and music by Hanneman)

4. “Chemical Warfare” (lyrics and music by Hanneman and King)

5. “Mandatory Suicide” (lyrics by Araya, music by Hanneman  and King)

6. “Altar of Sacrifice” (lyrics by King, music by Hanneman)

7. “Jesus Saves” (lyrics by King, music by Hanneman  and King)

8. “Seasons in the Abyss” (lyrics by Araya, music by Hanneman)

9. “Dead Skin Mask” (lyrics by Araya, music by Hanneman)

10. “Angel of Death” (lyrics and music by Hanneman)

11. “South of Heaven” (lyrics by Araya, music by Hanneman)

12. “Raining Blood” (lyrics by Hanneman and King, music by Hanneman)

Dette took the Slayer gig for the run through the festivals. For the Australian shows, he did double duty and still played with Anthrax. He had already joined King and Mustaine in the rare distinction of having played full sets with more than one Big Four group. (In 2004, Lombardo sat in for Metallica’s “Battery” and “The Four Horsemen” while Lars Ulrich was sick.)

After 32 years, Araya and King were done with Lombardo.

 On the internet, hundreds of
commenters had spasms
. A vocal majority sided with Lombardo and denounced
King as a money-hungry tyrant
for diluting the lineup. But thousands more fans turned out to cheer at every Slayer concert.

And Slayer, now, for the first time, was playing with just two original members. 

Statistically, that’s better than Korn touring with two of five classic-lineup guys (as they did in 2009). And it’s better than Sepultura and “the Misfits” playing with just their original bassist. And better than Guns N’ Roses, which is just Axl Rose and hired guns.

Website Metal Sucks responded with its trademark one-two combination of well-informed commentary and wiseass wit. It created a graphic of one famous SLAYER logo in slashed letters, surround by quotation marks in the gnarly font:
“SLAYER.”
Then it served up the headline: “Watch Half of Slayer Perform a Whole Concert.”
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(The site also supported Chimaira’s ongoing existence with a new lineup featuring just its original singer, but the Slayer barbs did represent a vocal portion of the fanbase.)